VIJAYAWADA: In a significant development towards establishing a steel plant in Kadapa, the Centre on Tuesday gave environmental clearance to the project. After going through the proposals sent by the Andhra Pradesh government on December 20, 2020 and also the revised proposals sent on January 29, 2021 enclosing the environmental assessment copy, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change gave the clearance to the proposed steel plant.
AP High Grade Steels Limited will set up the steel plant in Sunnapurallapalle and Pedda Nandalur villages with an initial production capacity of 3 million tonnes per annum in the first phase. A greenbelt will be developed across 484.4 hectares, which is 33 per cent of the total project area. About 12.1 lakh saplings will be planted over a period of five years to develop the greenbelt as part of the project.